‘Paraplegic’ con man claimed £250,000

♦ A man who said he was paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair to claim nearly £250,000 in benefits has been jailed for more than three years.

For 16 years Brian Matthews, 52, of Penzance, Cornwall, falsely claimed incapacity benefit, industrial injuries benefit, disability living allowance and housing benefit to feed his gambling.

Truro Crown Court heard Matthews made claims in a second wife’s name, stole a dead man’s identity to continue claiming his benefits and said he looked after his three children, who he claimed were disabled. Jo Martin QC, prosecuting, said by 2015 Matthews was receiving £4,200 a month but had gambling debts of £350,000.

Matthews admitted six charges of making a false representation to claim benefit and two charges of fraud.

Jailing Matthews for 42 and a half months, Judge Robert Linford told him: “I find to a degree you are genuinely disabled but your disability … does not come close to the extent you were maintaining. You are, Mr Matthews, a con man.”